Re-closing arrangement for packages of cardboard

ABSTRACT

A cardboard package having a recloseable flat plastic lid. The upper edge of one side of the package is formed with a hinged flap for attachment of a plastic lid. The lid is flat and formed with a frame for embracing the cardboard sides. A depression in the lid forms, with a portion of the frame, a groove for engaging the flaps to secure the lid thereto. A further depression forms a further groove for engaging an upper edge of the cardboard package to secure the lid in a closed position.

Ufiite States Patent [1 1 Christensson 1111 3,758,022 1 Sept. 11, 1 973RE-CLOSING ARRANGEMENT FOR PACKAGES OF CARDBOARD [75] Inventor: 0d WikarChristensson, Bromma near Stockholm, Sweden [73] 'Assignee:Christenssons Maskiner & Patenter Aktiebolag, Stockholm, Sweden 22Filed: Feb. 2, 1970 21 Appl. No.: 111,900

152] U.S. Cl 229/44 R 151] int. Cl 865d 5/66 [58] Field of Search 229/44R, 44 CB, 229/43 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,290,749 I7/1942 Hildebrandt 229/44 R 3,423,004 l/1969 Christensson..... 229/44 RX 1,148,676 8/1965 Harbeck 229/44 M 3,182,889 5/1965 Michalka 229/44 CB2,120,905 6/1938 Moore 229/44 R 3,231,056 l/l966 Pearl 229/44 R X3,265,282 8/1966 Maxwell 229/44 CB X 3,317,109 5/1967 Palmer 229/43 XFOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,018,782 10/1957 Germany 229/44 CBPrimary Examiner-Davis T. Moorhead AtrorneyLarson, Taylor & Hinds [57]ABSTRACT 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures RE-CLOSING ARRANGEMENT FOR PACKAGES1 OF CARDBOARD One kind of package is known, which in its initial stateis tight, but after it has been opened, looses its tightness. One suchpackage is made of cardboard with a plastic liner, which has been closedby plastic welding, wax soldering or in any other way. Such packages maybe closed retaining the atmosphere, which exists in the interior of thepackage, but they may also be closed under replacement of thisatmosphere by any other atmosphere, such as an inert gas. Since ithappens rather often that, after the package has been opened, only asmall quantity of the packed product is immediately used, it isobviously of great importance that one can re-close such a cardboardpackage under at least approximately satisfactory tightening against theinfluence of the outer atmosphere. Of course, one cannot restore adestroyed state of vacuum, and one can also not replace the oxygenousair, entering into the package when opened, by an inert gas, butnevertheless one wants to prevent the outer atmosphere from having freeaccess to the interior of the package.

It is known for such re-closing purposes to provide a package with aseparate re-closing lid, but this has not had any greater success. Itmeans a troublesome step for the dealer to deliver two different parts,free from each other, and it has also proved that the customer from timeto time will lose the lid.

It has also been proposed to arrange a re-closing lid, attached at thelower part of the package by means of a joint. This lid was made ofplastic, and a border formed part of the lid was combined with the lowerpart of the package. The joint was applied in the limit line betweenthis border formed part and the lid. This arrangement, however, has notproved advantageous. The reason for this is that any lid, in order to besufficiently rigid, must be made from a rather stiff plastic. However,this means that the joint will be stiff to a corresponding degree, andthe consequence has been that too strong resilient force was created inthe joint. This stiffness tends to move the lid into a given positionrelative to the mouth of the package, for instance in completely closedposition, whereby the resilient force counteracted the opening of thelid. Alternatively, when the lid is formed in a completely openposition, it tends to remain in its open position, or when formed in anintermediate position, it is difficult to leave fully open or fullyclosed.

The present invention is based upon the idea that such resilient forcedoes not exist in packaging material made from cardboard, provided thatthe cardboard is creased in a line which forms the joint. Consequently,the above mentioned disadvantages could be overcome if the lid is aplastic member, which does not have its own joint, but which is attachedto a border formed part of a side of the package, said part beingseparated from the package by means of a creasing line. In so doing,however, some further difficulties arise regarding the attachment of thelid made of plastic to the border formed part of the package sideseparated by means of a creasing line, and these further disadvantagesarealso removed by the present invention.

The present invention, thus, refers to a package with a re-closingarrangement in the form'of a lower part made of cardboard and a lid,make of stiff plastic.

According to the invention, the package is provided, by means of acreasing line, running in parallel to an upper edge, with a separated,border formed part, which is out free at its ends from the adjacentpackage sides, and to which the stiff, flat, plastic lid is attached.The lid is provided with a flat upper part and a frame, embracing theouter sides of the package, as well as an inwardly directed impressionalong the side of the lid which is attached to the border formed part ofthe package so that there will between the frame and the impression beformed a narrow groove, in which the border formed part is inserted andattached.

The invention will be further described below in connection with a formof execution shown in the attached drawing, but it is understood thatthe invention shall not be limited to this specific form of executionbut that all different kinds of modifications may occur within the frameof the invention.

In the drawing FIG. 1 shows the blank of a package of the kindconcerned, whereas FIG. 2 shows a parallel perspective picture of thepackage with partly opened lid. FIG. 3 shows a picture from above of thelid of the package, and FIG. 4 shows a section through the lid accordingto FIG. 3 along the section line IV IV.

The blank of the package according to FIG. 1, in the usual way, includesfour future package sides 10, l l, 12 and 13 and a sealing flap l4,separated by means of creasing lines l5, l6, l7 and 18, which have beenshown by dotted lines in FIG. 1. At its upper end the blank of thepackage is evenly cut off by means of cutting line19, and it is providedat its lower end with suitable closure arrangement, for instance fourclosing flaps 20, 21, 22, and 23, separated from the package sidesconcerned by means of creasing lines 24, 25, 26 and 27 as well as fromeach other by means of slits shown in full lines. Further, aconventional liner 28 of plastic in tube-form is attached to the packagesides 11 and 12.The liner is so long that it extends'below the creasingline 24-27 as well as above the cutting edge 19 by such a distance thatthe extending part maybe closed flat in a way known'per se. i

When developing the package blank into tube-form, one suitably proceedsin such a way that the blank is double-folded, that means it is foldedalong the two creasing lines 15 and 17, after the liner and/or the tworemaining sides 10 and 13 have been provided with spots of glue forcausing attachment between the liner sides and these two package sides,and after the closing flap 14 has been provided with paste forattachment to the inwardly turned end of the packageside 10. In thisstate the package is pressed flat, and it is thereafter ready fordelivery to the user, who has to fold the collapsed package up into tubeform, close the liner at its bottom, close the package at its bottom,fill the package and close the liner at its top. Disregarding the lid,the filled package will have the appearance seen in FIG. 2. The planeclosure of the liner'28 is shown in FIG. 2 at 29. One will observe thetwo triangular closing ears, created by. the closure, which have been Ifolded inwardly. The plane closing ridge is shown at 30.

In the foregoing description, the package as well as the method for itsclosing is conventional, with the exception that one has omitted closingflaps at the upper end of the package. What will hereafter be described,on the otherhand, is new in connection with the package according to thepresent invention.

At the upper end of the side 11 a creasing line 31 is arranged, and twoslits 32, 33 extend from the ends of the creasing line 31 in thevertical direction of the package or at least approximately, in thisdirection, to the upper edge l9. The flap 34 thereby created is intendedto be attached to the stiff plastic lid which is shown in FIG. 3 and 4.The lid .35 preferably is made by deep drawing of plastic over amandrel, which has been given. a border running all around, said bordercreating a groove 36 for the reception of the edge 19 of the packageproper, and a few depressions 37, 38 and 39. These depressions are somade that they provide an edge, parallel to the vertical direction ofthe package, said edge forming one side of the groove 36, and thereafterare inclined onto the flat upper surface of the lid 35 as shown in FIG.3 and FIG. 4. The long depression 39 thereby approaches the inner sideof the flap 34, and this flap is attached in the groove 36 by means ofsome suitable adhesive, for instance a plastic glue. Thereby, the lid 35will be mechanically connected to the side 11 of the package, thecreasing line 31 functioning as a joint between the package and the lid.When the lid is folded down to reclose the package, the upper edge 19will enter into the groove 36 along two places at the depressions 37 and38. The groove in this place is somewhat narrowed, so that a givendegree of locking is obtained for the lid. For stabilization, the lid isfurther provided on its outward side with a flange 40 which is widenedat the front side 13 of the package to a narrow grip tongue 41.

In its original closed state in which the package is used for sale ofthe packed product, the liner 28 is securely closed at the bottom of thepackage as well as at its top, the latter closure being seen at 30 inFIG. 2. Further the lid 35 is folded downwardly. When the package isopened, one first opens the lid, so that the upper side of the liner 28is available. The plane closing ridge 30 is raised, whereafter it may becut off by a pair of scissors or broken up in any other suitable way.Thereafter, one may collect from the package as much of the desiredmaterial as required. Thereafter the package is re-closed by foldingdown the lid, whereby one will, of course, not get the same goodtightness as in the original package but nevertheless a tight closurewhich is satisfactory in most cases.

I claim: I

1. A cardboard package with a recloseable rectilinear plastic lidcomprising:

a lower cardboard package portion including side walls and a bottomwall, one side of said cardboard package portion being provided with acrease line extending fully across said one side parallel to an upperedge of said one side and being further provided with two slits, one ateach end of said crease line and extending to said upper edge of saidone side, thus forming a hinged flap extending fully across said oneside for the attachment of a lid to said cardboard portion of saidpackage; 1

an upper stiff plastic lid portion having a substantially planarrectilinear upper surface and a downwardly extending frame portionextending downwardly around the periphery of said lid, a firstdownwardly extending member located inwardly of said frame portion andforming therewith a first inverted U- shaped groove under said lidadjacent a first side thereof, the hinged flap of said cardboard portionbeing inserted into said first groove and secured therein thus securingsaid plastic lid portion to said cardboard portion, said lid portionfurther including a second downwardly extending member located inwardlyof said frame portion at a side of the lid remote from said flap andforming a second U- shaped groove under said lid adjacent the sidethereof remote from said first lid side, said second groove beingadapted to embrace an edge of said cardboard portion remote from saidhinged flap portion when said lid is lowered.

2. A package according to claim 1 wherein said first and seconddownwardly extending members are formed by depressions in the plasticlid.

3. A package according to claim 1 wherein said lid is provided with anoutwardly extending flange strengthening said lid.

4. A package according to claim 3 wherein said flange is provided on theportion of said lid remote from said attachment flange to facilitateopening and closure of said package.

1. A cardboard package with a recloseable rectilinear plastic lidcomprising: a lower cardboard package portion including side walls and abottom wall, one side of said cardboard package portion being providedwith a crease line extending fully across said one side parallel to anupper edge of said one side and being further provided with two slits,one at each end of said crease line and extending to said upper edge ofsaid one side, thus forming a hinged flap extending fully across saidone side for the attachment of a lid to said cardboard portion of saidpackage; an upper stiff plastic lid portion having a substantiallyplanar rectilinear upper surface and a downwardly extending frameportion extending downwardly around the periphery of said lid, a firstdownwardly extending member located inwardly of said frame portion andforming therewith a first inverted U-shaped groove under said lidadjacent a first side thereof, the hinged flap of said cardboard portionbeing inserted into said first groove and secured therein thus securingsaid plastic lid portion to said cardboard portion, said lid portionfurther including a second downwardly extending member located inwardlyof said frame portion at a side of the lid remote from said flap andforming a second U-shaped groove under said lid adjacent the sidethereof remote from said first lid side, said second groove beingadapted to embRace an edge of said cardboard portion remote from saidhinged flap portion when said lid is lowered.
 2. A package according toclaim 1 wherein said first and second downwardly extending members areformed by depressions in the plastic lid.
 3. A package according toclaim 1 wherein said lid is provided with an outwardly extending flangestrengthening said lid.
 4. A package according to claim 3 wherein saidflange is provided on the portion of said lid remote from saidattachment flange to facilitate opening and closure of said package.